Senate Democrats push plan to abolish Electoral College

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

12/16/24 6:47 PM ET


Three Democratic senators unveiled a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College system Monday, just more than a month after President-elect Trump stunned the Democrats by sweeping all seven battleground states, knocking off three Senate Democratic incumbents in the process.

Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii,) Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), three leading progressive Senate voices, say it’s time to “restore democracy” by allowing for the direct election of presidents through the popular vote alone.

The senators are troubled that the Electoral College has twice elected a candidate who didn’t win the popular vote in the past 19 years. In both those instances, a Republican captured the White House — George W. Bush in the 2000 election and Trump in the 2016 election.

“In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It’s that simple,” Schatz said. “No one’s vote should count for more based on where they live. The Electoral College is outdated and it’s undemocratic. It’s time to end it.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5043206-senate-democrats-abolish-electoral-college/

[Walleye]

1. Another thing about the electoral college. The campaign is largely takes place in six or eight

Battleground states. That in itself is anti-Democratic. The campaign should be nationwide. We all have primaries. We should also have influence on the presidential election with our votes. Of course Republicans think that Democratic is a dirty word. They probably don’t even use it in polite company.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. This is a shocking development.

Another thing about the electrical college. The campaign is largely takes place in six or eight Battleground states.

Okay. Never mind. You should see some of the corrections autocorrect has for me. And good morning.

[BonnieJW]

43. Why are dems wasting time on this?

It will never pass.

[WarGamer]

47. yelling and shaking fists at clouds.

[hot2na]

52. This is exactly what we should be fighting for

I dont want to hear about “It will never pass.” That way of doing politics is a loser in todays world.we have to go on offense.

Doing away with the electoral college should be a part of the Democratic platform. It should be regurgitated by every Democratic candidate. This will motivate our base.

[KS Toronado]

62. The "It will never happen" attitude is self-defeating.

Never-give-up is better than

[The Grand Illuminist]

66. No, that is being a realist.

We have to pick our battles carefully.

[The Grand Illuminist]

65. Exactly

There are some states that are convention ready using the 2/3s rule.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. It would save some grief if neither party reaches 270

through chicanery or third party state surge. But in close elections the temptation will be for cheaters to encourage late vote reporting, recounts, tossed ballots, litigation over counting rules. We are so far from everybody votes, every vote is counted.

[3Hotdogs]

4. That effort is going in one direction: straight up their asses.

It will never get out of Congress and if it did, there are not enough Blue states to ratify it.

[jvill]

5. Jeebus, read the room... Is this really what Dems should be going after right now..?

[gab13by13]

8. Yeah, no duh

Why didn't they just push for world peace?

All elected Democrats should be seeking out microphones and exposing the criminals who TSF is planning to put in his administration. They should be exposing the plans that Putin/Musk/Trump have to fuck unwashed Americans.

Waste of time trying to abolish the Electoral College.

[AllyCat]

64. Is that sorta why Klobuchar has pushed through the Eagle

As our national bird? Because that oughta slow our collapse into fascism.

[bluestarone]

33. Well, their timing SUCKS that's for sure!

Hard to believe they even brought this up after what has happened this election. I don't get it!

[Vinca]

6. Absolutely. Too often the majority ends up being ruled by the minority.

[Martin68]

7. That headline should read "TRY to abolish the EC." Not gonna happen.

[gab13by13]

9. Headline should be

Democrats jousting at windmills.

[LittleGirl]

10. I'm all for it. It's time the voters chose the candidate

and not the state. This old system was used to protect slave owners. Remember the 3/5ths rule?
The electoral college is outdated by at least 100 years, and needs to end. Maybe we'll get more voters because right now,
voter suppression is taking over and in 2000 and 2016, the POTUS selected by the electoral college did not win the popular vote.

We may not win this fight but we have to fight it.

[gab13by13]

12. Every elected Democrat should be seeking out a microphone

and exposing the criminals who Trump is installing to destroy America. Every Democrat needs to be shouting out about how Trump's criminal billionaires are going to fuck over unwashed Americans.

The fight needs to be about not allowing unqualified criminals, drunks, conspiracy theorists to be in control of our government.

Talking about eliminating the Electoral college is foolish and jousting at windmills. Do something that matters Democrats, talk about Putin running America.

[LittleGirl]

13. Why can't we do two things at the same time?

it's always one or the other and I remember in the Obama years stating that he could do more than one thing at a time.
We must stop the Gerrymandering and voter suppression that the electoral college forces on us.
I live in a blue state finally and when I lived in Indiana, I didn't bother to vote because it was gerrymandered so much that no D could get the votes. The state district committees made sure of that.

[gab13by13]

14. When our house is on fire

it isn't a good time to make plans to add on an addition. It is time to get everyone on board to put out the fire.

[LittleGirl]

18. Yes, our house is on fire right now

and we need to plan the future so that we never have this fire again.

[Wiz Imp]

15. There is no relationship between gerrymandering and the electoral college.

Last edited Tue Dec 17, 2024, 09:57 AM - Edit history (1)

Both should be banned but neither one impacts the other.

[LittleGirl]

17. Sorry what?

Are you kidding me? The electoral college needs to go. Period. End of story.

[Wiz Imp]

19. You apparently missed the first line of my post where I said : BOTH SHOULD BE BANNED.

But gerrymandering has no impact on statewide elections like the Presidential election (as long as states award all electoral votes based on the statewide popular vote which is all but Nebraska and Maine). Gerrymandering only impacts races at a local level. And it should be banned as well. If not for gerrymandering, the Democrats would have a near constant majority in the US House.

[Polybius]

20. You linked it to gerrymandering

Why? The House is gerrymandered, entire states aren't and have never been redrawn.

[LittleGirl]

22. Because it's voter suppression

If a state is so gerrymandered, the voters don't chose the candidate, the party does. They draw the maps.

Both the electoral college and gerrymandering need to be outlawed.

[Polybius]

24. I apologize

I thought you were linking the Electoral College to gerrymandering, I didn't realize that you were instead saying both were bad.

[LittleGirl]

30. no worries. it's early here on the west coast

Thanks for the apology but I understand. Hugs xx

[hot2na]

54. We can walk and chew gum at the same time

Its not this and not that. That is the defensive crouch that has plagued the Dem party for too long. It should this that and the other thing. Time to flood the zone.

The Republicans didnt back down on overturning Roe. Now they are going to go after Social Security and Medicade.

We need to go big. We should not be leading with things like child tax credits, which are important but dont get people fired up, like gun control.

[oldmanlynn]

11. This is as likely as pushing a bill to get republicans to vacate running for elected office.

Does this really rile up our base!

[druidity33]

16. Made me laugh out loud...

Dick Durbin... leading progressive. Also, The Hill? Really not a source I got to for actual news... more like, when i want to hear what agenda the "insider" Republican operatives want to promote.

[gab13by13]

26. Exactly, The Hill that allowed

John Solomon to post a dozen election conspiracy articles is as far right as it gets.

[AKwannabe]

21. The time to do this was when Democrats had better control of the houses and the WH

This will go nowhere.
Those who benefited are in control and will not vote to abolish.

Seriously bad timing.

[LittleGirl]

23. I agree. The timing is terrible. nt

[Callie1979]

45. Wouldnt have gone anywhere then either. Require 2/3 vote. Never happen.

Start with term limits.

[markbark]

25. A point, if I may

“In an election, the person who gets the most votes should win. It’s that simple,” Schatz said. “No one’s vote should count for more based on where they live. The Electoral College is outdated and it’s undemocratic. It’s time to end it.”

Replace "Electoral College" with "The Senate" and you've got something.

[MayReasonRule]

35. Are You Saying That You Wish To Abolish The Senate And Shift All Legislative Power To The House Of Representatives?

[markbark]

48. Sure.

California contains more people than the 21 least populous states combined.
When it comes to representation, 42 to 2 hardly sounds fair.
Hell, the county I live in (Fairfax, VA) has more people in it than the entire state of Wyoming.
Why should cattle have more voice in the Congress than people?

[MichMan]

50. Perhaps after they pass an amendment to remove the EC, they can pass one dissolving themselves as a legislative body

Both have an equal chance of succeeding

[Otterdaemmerung]

58. Um... no.

Our Congress was founded on a bicameral basis in order to balance the tension between population disparity on one hand and each state being equal on the other.
In the House, each state gets a certain number of representatives based on its population. New York and California have way more representatives than Wyoming and Vermont, for example.
In the Senate, each state is equal. California and New York are much more populous than Wyoming and Vermont, but all of them are exactly one state, and each state gets two Senators.
If it weren't for this makeup, every state that has more citizens could run roughshod over the interests of the smaller-populated states.

The Electoral College is another way of resolving this same tension, though it could be argued that it does so badly; and that with a more connected citizenry that is also more mobile (transportation-wise) than in previous times, the boundaries between states are more malleable, and we'd be better served by having our presidential vote better reflect the will of the people at large. The post-integration age also seen affluent whites flee to the suburbs and rural areas, weighting them differently then before. That the Electoral College has countered the popular vote result twice in under twenty years is so unthinkable I doubt the framers of the Constitution would have approved. Despite the original intent of the Electoral College (and whether it was meant to keep Southern slaveholding states in the fold or not), I think the case can be made that the benefits of abolishing it outweigh its continued use.

[Mike Nelson]

27. Nice plan, but...

... timing is everything.

[Owens]

29. Too little, too late

[Paladin]

31. Waste of time and energy.

Hey, Democratic leadership: How about exhibiting some competent leadership? Just for a change of pace...

[republianmushroom]

32. Good, this is past do.

[kimbutgar]

34. I bet those people in swing states would be ok

A friend of mine lives in one of those states and said the commercials were dreadful and she couldn’t escape the political ads.

[comradebillyboy]

36. This will be just as successful as Trump's plan to

rescind the 14th amendment with an executive order.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

38. The current court will allow that 6-3

[comradebillyboy]

39. Maybe, maybe not. The plain English wording

of the amendment is hard, even for the Roberts court to misconstrue.

Fourteenth Amendment
Section 1

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

37. Won't happen. Try this instead.

1) Every so often, parts of Illinois, Maryland, New York, etc. want to break off and join neighbors who are more conservative. Offer to allow some of that if Puerto Rico and DC are admitted as states.

2) Go for direct election of electors with 2 per state continuing to be awarded on a statewide basis. This makes the current process more fair to both sides. Now no state is all blue or red.

[The Wizard]

40. The Electoral College

perverts democracy. It was only imposed to get the slave states to ratify the Constitution.

[Windy Apple]

41. The EC would work fine ...

if it actually reflected the electorate. It doesn’t in part due to the hyper-redistricting and lack of representational growth in the House.

[Wild blueberry]

42. Looking long term, this is much needed

If every person knew their vote meant something, more people would vote.
(If you're a Dem in South Dakota, you know it's fruitless. Ditto MAGA in Illinois.)
National Interstate Popular Vote Compact.
For more information https://www.lwv.org/blog/what-national-popular-vote-interstate-compact

We can do essential long-term structural changes, as well as defend democracy and all our people during the coming hellscape.

[SidneyR]

44. Whataya mean "restore" democracy?

The Electoral College has ALWAYS been undemocratic, ergo the United States was NOT founded as a democracy and has NEVER BEEN a democracy. It's a quasi-democratic republic, with some limited aspects of democracy, but an actual democracy it ain't. In fact, the country from which we obtained our independence is more democratic than we are. Britain has outlawed gerrymandering, has nothing like an Electoral College, chooses Supreme Court judges via a professional nominating process . . . the list rather does go on. Eliminating the EC would bring more democracy, but there's more to be done--particularly on the gerrymandering problem.

[Be The Light]

46. It's about fucking time!

[The Mouth]

49. LOL.

38 states would need to approve.
20 of those states would lose the level of representation they have now.



If a Democratic candidate had won the EC and a Republican the popular vote, people on here would be praising it, and the Freepers would instead be fulminating and whining.

[Think. Again.]

51. Gee, what a great idea.

Wish someone had thought of that sooner.

[thucythucy]

56. I know.

Like maybe in 2001, after the EC gave us Bush II instead of Gore?

Still, I guess you have to start sometime.

[Rebl2]

53. Good luck

with that. Would like to see it happen, but not sure they will achieve their goal.

[Aussie105]

55. The EC is an outdated idea.

Can't trust the common Man voter, smarter people, the EC, has to modify their voting.

One voter's choice has a direct impact on whatever is being voted for, without modification.
Not a hard concept to implement.

If you think voters are dumb, well then, educate them - bombard them with facts about policies, those hate and fear creating ads need to go.

[Karasu]

57. Yes, yes, the odds are against us...but it's long overdue, and more importantly, it's the right fucking thing to do.

And if these fascists really think their insane policies are that fucking popular, they should have no damn problem with this.

[NotHardly]

59. Wake me when they actually do something significant for us poors.

[GiqueCee]

60. It's about goddamned time...

... the Electoral College was a racist obscenity the day it was written. It has to die.

[LudwigPastorius]

61. The record for congressional proposals to change or abolish the Electoral College in the last 200 years is not good.

0 for 700, to be exact.

But, we appreciate the sentiment.

[Emile]

63. This will pass when

Republicans lose and they lose with the majority of votes. Until then, nothing will happen.